Feiction



(No Model.)

I. W, HEYSINGER. FRICTION APPLIANCE FOR ELECTRIC CARS.

No. 549,642. Patented No v. 12 1895.

. To all whom it may concern.-

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC W. HEYSINGER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO WILLIAM G. STEELE, OF SAME PLACE.

FRICTION APPLIANCE FOR ELECTRIC CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,642, dated November12, 1895.

Application filed M y 18, 1895. $erial No. 549,789. (No model.) I

Be it known that I, ISAAC W.HEYSINGER, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFriction Appliances for Electric-Railway-Car Wheels and in thePreparation and Methods of Use of the Same; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,reference being had to the drawings which accompany and form a part ofthis specification, which will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to use the said invention.

Figure 1 is a side view of an electric railway and car upon the track,the latter partially broken away to show the mechanism more clearly, andin which my invention is applied between the forward wheel and therailway-track, said wheel and track form in g a portion of thereturn-circuit from the motor-dynamo of the said car to thegenerating-station. Figs. 2 and 2 show the rock substance from which Iprefer to form my friction appliances and the granules or crystals ofwhich the said rock is composed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portionof the wheel shown in Fig. 1, and the adjacent and coacting parts inenlarged side view, partially broken away, so as to show the armatureand magnets of the motor-dynamo. Fig. t shows the irregularlyshapedmasses of crystals and the larger crystals as first produced by crushingthe rock shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 the same after having been screenedto uniform size and prepared for the market to be used for the purposesof this invention.

The lettering in all the figures is uniform.

The object of my invention is to produce a friction material adapted tobe used to retard or arrest the slipping of car-wheels upon therailway-tracks of an electric railway in which the trackway forms thereturn-conductor, the current passing thereto through the wheels of saidcar, which themselves are in circuit with the motor dynamo, and, throughthe said track, with the generating-dynamos along the said line ofrailway, or that which'supplies the said railway with electric energy,and when the brakes are applied to'said wheels to I I retard theirrotation by the friction thereof,

the said friction material which I use being a granular material thegranules or crystals of which are composed of a material substance whichis capable of freely transmitting the electric current, being a goodelectric conductor,whereby the current is not interrupted by theinterposition of such friction material, which thus maybe used insufficient quantity and under both the driving-wheels, or all of them,simultaneously, so as to produce a greater friction between the arcs ofthe wheels in contact with the track than between the said arcs and thebrake-shoes applied thereto, whereby slip of the wheels and theconsequent flattening are avoided, and also the loss of current andconsequent need of greater pressure of electricity to overcome it, aswhen ordinary silicious sand is used, which is a high insulator, areavoided.

The material which I prefer to use for this purpose is magnetic ironrock, known as magnetic iron ore 0r octahedral iron ore, and whichusually consists of about seventytwo per cent. of iron and twenty-eightper cent. of oxygen. It has a hardness of above five in thescale, beingnearly as hard as crystallized quartz. It forms a hard granularblackcolored rock, which when pulverized reveals the characteristicoctagonal crystals more or less perfect. It also occurs,disintegrated bythe elements, in the form of what is known as magnetic iron sand,intermingled with silicious and other sandy materials. Its peculiarquality is that it is an excellent conductor of electricity, as good, infact, as iron in metallic form, so that when interposed be tween thewheels of a moving car and the metal track beneath it offers noimpediment to the flow of the electric current from the wheels to thetrack, while at the same time it furnishes a friction material quite asefficient as the insulating material used heretofore, and the use ofwhich was greatly restricted by reason of its interruption of currentand the necessity of increased voltage to overcome it (thus actingirregularly) and the liability by its enforced economy in use andusually upon only one side of the trackway to permit the brake-shoe tohold the wheel fixed, thus permitting its contact-surface with the trackto plane its way along the interposed sand, leaving a fiat portion toproduce shock at every rotation of the wheel and necessitating itsremoval from the track in order to have it turned down to a circleagain. These accidents are of constant occurrence in slippery weather onsuch electric railways and entail large expense for repairs and alsoincreased expense in operating.

My invention also consists in the preparation of the said friction andmagnetic mate rial from the ore, in separating the conducting from thenon-conducting material, when impure ores are used, by magneticseparators, and the subsequent screening of the pulverized and separatedore,so as to secure a friction material having its granules or crystalsof nearly equal size and suitable for thepurpose,

and supplying this as an article of manufacture for use in combinationwith the wheels and trackway of electric railways and between the same 5an d my invention also consists in the method of preventinginterruptionof current, when a friction material is interposed between the wheelsand trackway of an electric railway,'by providing with this frictionmate rial an electric conducting material, either in whole or partconstituting the said friction material, which shall maintain thecurrent when thus interposed.

\Vhen it is not deemed necessary to use the conducting friction materialin its pure state, I commiugle with it a proportion of bar or othersand, such as may be desired, retaining, however, sufficient of theconducting material to insure the free passage of the electric currentat all times; and I do not 0011- fine myself exclusively to the use ofthe natural magnetic rock crushed and screened, but, if desired, Icommingle metallic iron with furnace-slag in the process of manufacture,which I granulate by flowing, when molten, into water, as is done inmaking ordinary granulated slags, or use metallic iron in other formswith silieious or other oxides to produce the friction material which Iuse, and which is thus a good metallic conductor of electricity; but onaccount of the great hardness of the magnetic oxide and its angularityof crystallization and facility of being worked, as well as its veryhigh electrical c011- ducting quality, I prefer to use this material,either pure or comm in gled with other friction materials, as abovedescribed.

A brief reference to the drawings will elucidate my invention and itsmethod of use.

In Fig. l, A is the body of an electric car, having platforms B B stepsB, and supporting-wh'eels C C. D D are brake-shoes which rest againstthe inner periphery of the wheels C C, within the flanges G I) Drepresent the brake mechanism. E shows in dotted outline the armatureupon the axle C of the wheel 0, which by its rotation against the facesof the magnets II II, Fig. 3, converts the electric current carried bythe feed-wires (not shown) into motor energy and propels the car along.The current passes from the ar mature to the wheels 0, and thencethrough their points of rolling contact with the trackway F into thesaid track and back to the generating-station. 4 B is a hopper on thefront platform of the car, from which extends downward and backward thespout B and a check-slide Z1 closes the spout at its extremity, which isjust in front of the contact of the wheel 0 with the track F. Ahand-lever (or foot-1ever) B controls this slide, which, when open,permits the contents of the hopper B and spout B to run out upon thetrack just in time to be caught by the advance of the wheel 0, and thusbe ground up between the said wheel and said track-rail, and G is theelectrical conducting friction material in the hopper B which thuspassing down, as shown at G is emptied in front of the wheel 0, asbefore stated. hen the brakes D I) are applied and the slide If isopened, the material pouring out from the spout I3 is interposed andproduces a powerful friction between the wheel C and the track-rail F,the wheel being raised from the track thereby; but the friction materialG being a perfect electrical conductor, the current continues to pass,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, without the slightest impediment.

In Fig. 2 I show a rough piece of magnetic ore rock as it is blasted inthe mine. I only use the hard rock thus blasted out and not theweathered or partiallydecomposed surface rock frequently encountered,and it should have a surface as granular and hard looking as fracturedemery rock. This I crush in a rock-crushing mill to a granular form,averaging in size medium-sized bird-shot, or larger, if desired. Ifnecessary, I now pass this granulated material through a magneticoreseparator, which will take up the conductin ggrains and leave behindthose which are not affected by the magnet; but with good rock this isfrequently quite unnecessary, as the intermingled materials do notsensibly diminish the conductivity of the mass and are good and hardfriction materials of themselves. My next step is to screen the granularproduct, so as to have the resulting friction material of a nearlyuniform size, as such uni formity makes it run more evenly through thehopper and spout and also insures better friction and electrical contactbetween the wheels and the track. As shown in Figs. 3 and l, theseparticles of substantially uniform size form a bed of conductingmaterial between the wheel and the track-rail and in advance of thewheel upon the track-rail, which affords increased facility for thepassage of the current from said wheel to said track-rail over thatafforded by the circumscribed contact of the solid wheel with the solidrail, so that in ascending heavy grades or making sudden stoppages underreversal of current the use of this bed of conducting friction materialwill greatly increase the efficiency of the motor-dynamo; but if thesefriction and conducting particles consist of fragments of irregular sizethey will present themselves in front of the advancing wheel as a seriesof insufficient conducting-points and will be rapidly raised toincandescence and destroyed, with the consequent blazing and sputtering,irregularity of action, and loss of economy now manifested when thewheels are raised from their track-rails and the currentis broken by theinterposition of non-conducting material. The particles which do notpass through the proper-sized screen are repulverized, while theimpalpable powder is cast aside. The granular material I then put up inbags or kegs and ship the same to any point desired.

In Fig. 4 I show the crystals adherent together and of unequal size.This is after the first series of crushings. In Fig. 4 I show thecrystals or granules of nearly uniform size and such as I prepare forthe purposes hereinabove set forth I do not restrict myself to theprecise stages of manufacture set forth in the above description or usemy material with the precise appliances shown in the figures, but varythem to meet special requirements, as would be done by any skilledmechanic having my invention before him.

Having now described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. In an electric railway having a trackrail for return conductor, agenerating station and a supply line in circuit through the motor-dynamoof a traveling car upon said trackway, and through the wheels thereofwith said track-rail, a layer of comminuted friction material interposedbetween said wheel and said track-rail, composed substantially of asubstance which is a good conductor of electricity, the contiguousparticles thereof adapted to maintain the passage of the electriccurrent from said wheels to said track-rail without increase ofresistance or retardation and at the same time produce friction betweensaid wheels and said trackway, substantially as described.

2. In combination with an electric motorcar, adapted to be propelled byelectricity along the trackway of an electric railway, and having areturn conductor composed of one or both of the track-rails thereof, andthe return current adapted to pass from the motor dynamo of said carthrough the wheels thereof and thence directly into the saidtrack-rail,the layer of granular or crystalline friction materialinterposed intermittently between the said wheels and the said trackway,the particles thereof adapted by their hardness and angularity toproduce friction against slip of the said wheels thereupon, and by theirelectrical conducting quality to form vertical lines of electricconductor through said friction material and between said wheels andsaid track- .purposes described.

4. In combination with the wheels of an electric motor-car, and thetrackway of an electric railway, in electric circuit with each other afriction and conducting material adapted to be interposed between saidwheels and said trackway composed of a series of contiguous particles ofa commin uted substance adapted, by its electrical conductivity to formvertical lines of electric conductor between said wheels and saidtrackway, and commingled therewith separate silicious particles adaptedto increase the friction between the same, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

5. As a composition of matter a friction and conducting material for thewheels of electric railways consisting of a granular or crystalline andcomminuted magnetic iron rock, the particles thereof substantiallyuniform in size, and commingled with silicious and nonconductingfriction particles, substantially as and for the purposes described.

6. As a composition of matter a comminuted friction material for thecar-wheels of an electric railway consisting of an admixture of anelectrically conductive, and a harder and electrically non-conductivematerial combined in such proportions, and graduated in relative sizesof particles, as when applied between the car-wheels and trackway of anelectric railway, and in the circuit between said wheels and trackway,will maintain the said circuit, and produce friction between the saidwheels and said trackway, substantially as described. a

ISAAC w. HEYSING-ER'.

Witnesses:

ANDREW '1. GROUPE, JOHN R. NOLAN.

